


Stuck In The Middle With You

by ArcherDarke



Series: Feels Like Home epilogue shorts [1]
Category: Frozen (Disney Movies), Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Casselsa, Drabble, F/F, a companion to my other fic, and funny, because theyre in lesbians with each other, cocky cassandra, determined elsa, give it a go its cute, its sweet, just a lil fluff piece, mentions of love, oh also they spar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-19 13:23:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22578355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArcherDarke/pseuds/ArcherDarke
Summary: Elsa has always wanted to watch Cassandra train and she finally takes the opportunity to get up close and personal with that side of her girlfriend a couple of months after she comes to live with Elsa in Arendelle.
Relationships: Cassandra/Elsa (Disney: Tangled)
Series: Feels Like Home epilogue shorts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1634242
Comments: 6
Kudos: 69





	Stuck In The Middle With You

**Author's Note:**

> Just an epilogue drabble for my other story, Feels Like Home! You don't HAVE to read that one to enjoy this one but I encourage you to give it a go if you want to know how these two got together in my universe!

“I’m not getting anywhere with this.” Elsa put down her pen, distracted. She’d been distracted a lot recently and as she leant over from her chair to look out of the window by her desk her eyes fell upon the reason why. Down below, in the castle training yard, Cassandra was putting the newest recruits through their paces. Elsa smiled as she always did whenever Cassandra was in her sights.

It had only been two months since Cassandra had come to Arendelle to be with Elsa and already she’d managed to make a name for herself amongst the Castle Guard. It had started with Cassandra using the yard to run drills and practice her sword fighting techniques when it was empty. Elsa had covertly moved her study to a room with a view of the yard for this very reason. She’d loved watching Cassandra train when they were younger, and she found it no less appealing now. The way Cassandra’s body moved, with such calculated precision, was just as awe-inspiring now as it had been back then.

Before long she’d been noticed by Arendelle’s soldiers and, after winning many foolish challenges against her, she’d established herself as a formidable opponent and an excellent mentor for the more inexperienced guards.

Elsa watched now as Cassandra patiently walked a young recruit through a series of hand-to-hand combat movements, adjusting the young woman’s stance and the position of her hands before standing opposite and getting ready to spar. Within seconds of the fight beginning, Cassandra had the guard on the floor, looking up at her teacher with surprise in her young face. Cassandra helped the woman to her feet and began to explain with gestures what she’d done wrong.

Elsa watched all this with her chin in her hand and a smile on her face, admiring Cassandra from her window as she had done so many times recently. She’d spent many hours as a teenager wishing she could go down and watch Cassandra from the side of the Coronan arena, close enough to see the look of concentration on her face and feel the confident energy that surrounded her.

With a contented sigh, Elsa turned back to her desk, only to feel her frustration return when her eyes fell upon the half-finished document she’d been working on for hours. She knew she should have more self-control than this. She’d been performing her queenly duties just fine before her visit to Corona but now every other thought was of Cassandra and the rush of happiness just seeing her made Elsa feel.

Elsa picked up her pen and proceeded to read the last paragraph she’d written, noting at least three different mistakes by the time she got to the end. She finally admitted defeat and stood, deciding that her queenly duties would have to wait. After taking one more glance outside she made the executive decision to do something she’d always wanted to do.

* * *

“Okay! I know its been a long few hours for you all but now it’s time for the Challenge!” Cassandra walked around in a circle, observing each and every one of her students with a critical eye. “You all know the drill; put me on my back, you get the day off training tomorrow! You fail to put me down, and you’re on the Guard’s laundry-duty…” Cassandra grinned wickedly, “And from the smell of you lot today that duty is going to be extra hellish this week!”

There was a collective groan from the soldiers as they contemplated the thought of doing Cassandra’s punishment. Unsurprisingly, no-one raised a hand, all of them unwilling to take the risk. There wasn’t a single man or woman who’d managed to take Cassandra down yet and it was unlikely that anybody would.

“Nobody? After everything I’ve taught you today, not a single one of you is tempted to put your new skills to the test?” Cassandra tutted theatrically. “Well, in that case, I’ll see you all tomo-”

“I accept the challenge.” Elsa moved through the parting spectators who gasped in waves as she strode gracefully past them with a mischievous smile on her face.

Cassandra’s eyebrows shot up in shock. “Elsa? I mean, _Queen_ Elsa?” Cassandra quickly corrected herself as she stepped towards the fence where Elsa approached.

Elsa found herself grinning inside at Cassandra’s insistence on using her formal address in front of others. She kind of liked it, if she was honest. It made their private time together feel all the more intimate when Cassandra would drop the honorifics and the tough-guy façade and just call her _Elsa_ in the softest of ways.

Elsa approached the arena fencing and rested her hands upon it. “I _accept_ your challenge, Cassie.” She announced more quietly now that Cassandra was within arm’s reach.

“I…” Cassandra cleared her throat as if she was just remembering that they were in public, “I’m not sure that’s wise, Your Majesty.” She said in a whisper.

“Why not?” Elsa whispered back; her tone playful.

“Because…I don’t want to hurt you.” Cassandra replied, and the worry in her mossy green eyes warmed Elsa to her core.

“I’m not as fragile as I look, Cassie.” Elsa chuckled, “Besides, I’ve been watching you a _lot,_ and I think I’ve got the basics down.” She tapped the side of her head, “In here.”

“Watching and doing are two very different things, my Queen.” Cassandra insisted a little more firmly.

“I know, which is why I really want to try the _doing_ part.” Elsa replied with a grin. “I’ve wanted to do this with you since I first saw you training.” She added more quietly. Everybody in Arendelle knew the nature of their relationship but Elsa was respectful of Cassandra’s preference for privacy and always tried her best not to purposefully embarrass her in front of her underlings.

“I really don’t think this is a good idea…”

“Are you afraid I’ll win?”

Cassandra’s face broke out into a confident smirk “Not a chance, Your Highness.”

“Then accept my challenge, Soldier.” Elsa raised her eyebrow, awaiting Cassandra’s response.

Cassandra’s eyes searched Elsa’s for just a moment, and Elsa could see the silent debate going on behind them. After what seemed like an age had passed, Cassandra’s eyes became clear and she finally nodded. “Okay, Queen Elsa. Enter the arena.” She turned and walked away from the fence with a confident stride and Elsa took the opportunity to watch her go, admiring the inner strength she exuded just in the way she moved. Then she climbed as gracefully as she could over the fence and entered Cassandra’s domain.

She approached the centre of the arena where Cassandra stood waiting for her with her arms folded and a mysterious smile on her face. Elsa stopped about three feet away and waited for Cassandra’s next instruction. Cassandra’s eyes travelled the length of Elsa’s body and the observation felt almost like a caress. Elsa kept her reaction to the gaze hidden, her years of concealing her feelings coming in useful for a change.

“You’re going to need to change those clothes.” Cassandra finally said. “That fancy royal attire is nice for court but _this,_ ” Cassandra swung her arm around, encompassing the arena in her sweep, “is a battlefield.”

“Hm.” Elsa nodded with understanding. She took a long look at Cassandra’s clothes; her loose blue linen shirt that moved in the light summer breeze, and her brown canvas trousers which disappeared into sturdy black boots. Everything she wore was practical and functional and so utterly _Cassandra_ and Elsa liked it a lot.

When she’d studied Cassandra’s outfit for long enough, Elsa closed her eyes and dug deep into her psyche for the flow of her power. It was always within her, coursing through her veins, just waiting for her to call it forward and set it free into the world. She thought hard about what she needed and opened her hands, letting her vision become reality.

A few moments passed and then a round of whispered ‘wows’ erupted amongst the spectators as the glimmer of Elsa’s magic dissipated and her new outfit was revealed. Even Cassandra was looking at her with surprise and a little bit of something else in her expression. Elsa had managed to fashion herself a set of clothes almost identical to Cassandra’s, though a little more form fitting and with the glittering images of snowflakes etched into her shirt. It felt strange to be wearing something so relaxed out in public but also somewhat freeing. She felt good and ready for anything.

“Okay…that…” Cassandra shook her head as if to clear it and lifted her eyes to meet Elsa’s. “That will do the job.” Elsa could just make out the very faint colour in her cheeks, imperceptible to anyone who didn’t know her intimately, and it secretly pleased her to know she’d caused it. “Okay, Your Majesty. Defensive position.” Cassandra ordered.

Elsa nodded and arranged her limbs as she thought they should be, raising her fists in front of her face and digging her feet into the dirt beneath her boots.

Cassandra came to her and tapped one of her fists, “Hands open. We’re going to grapple. No punching.” She spoke to Elsa in short, to-the-point sentences as she did with her students, and Elsa was glad. This was Cassandra’s element and she wanted her to be wholly herself and this was it; sure, commanding, confident in what she was saying and doing. This was what Elsa had longed to see during all those hours she’d spent watching Cassandra from her window as a teen. Granted, she had never planned to be _this_ up close and personal until the opportunity presented itself today, but still.

“No powers.” Cassandra held Elsa’s eyes, her voice stern.

“No powers.” Elsa nodded.

“Okay.” Cassandra took three long steps away from Elsa and turned to face her, assuming the defensive position herself. “When I say ‘go’, you’re going to come at me with everything you’ve got…”

* * *

“Um, what the heck is going on out here?” Anna had spent a good fifteen minutes looking for her sister all around the castle before she’d heard the commotion outside in the training yard. She’d come outside to find quite an audience gathered around the arena; the crowd so thick that she couldn’t see a thing beyond the milling bodies of Arendellian soldiers and castle staff. She glanced around, looking for a vantage point, and spotted Kristoff and Olaf sitting on the high wall surrounding the yard. She hurried over and looked up at them with a frown. “Guys? What’s going on? Have you seen Elsa?”

“Anna!” Olaf exclaimed, happy to see her as he always was. “I have no idea _what_ is going on but I’m having lots of fun. You should join us!”

Anna smiled up at him, charmed as always by his childlike innocence. “Kristoff?” She turned her attention to her boyfriend who seemed like he hadn’t even noticed her presence yet.

“I’ll be with you in a minute, swee-oof, that had to hurt!” He winced and turned his gaze away from the arena where it had been fixed. “Oh, Anna, hi!”

“What are you watching? Is Cassie introducing yet another smart-mouthed recruit to the dirt?” She chuckled, having enjoyed watching Cassandra put a guard through his or her paces more than once in the last few weeks.

“Uh, not…exactly…”

“Its Elsa!” Olaf blurted out.

“Elsa?!” Anna’s eyes were the size of salad plates as she processed the shocking revelation. “She’s fighting with Cassie?!”

“She’s getting her butt kicked.” Kristoff winced again, his eyes back on the arena.

“Okay, pull me up, I have to see this.” Anna insisted, incredulous. Kristoff helped her up onto the wall and she squinted her eyes, trying to understand what she was seeing. Elsa and Cassandra were standing several feet apart, circling with their eyes glued on each other and their hands up, ready to fight. They both seemed weary, but it was Elsa who looked the most tired of the two, and her clothes were covered in patches of dirt. Speaking of clothes, was Elsa wearing _trousers?!_ As she watched, the two women came together suddenly, Elsa trying in vain to push or pull Cassandra down to the ground and Cassandra expertly turning Elsa’s weight against her and dropping her to the floor with a visible thud. Anna winced. “ _Why_ are they fighting!?”

“Elsa accepted Cassandra’s Challenge.” Kristoff shrugged.

“Why would she do that?!”

“I think she really likes that Cassandra lady.” Olaf interjected.

“Olaf, Cassie is Elsa’s girlfriend, didn’t you know that?” Anna asked him with a frown.

“Yes, like you are Kristoff’s girlfriend.” Olaf replied with a nod.

“So…Elsa definitely _likes_ Cassie…like Kristoff _likes_ me.” Anna explained slowly.

“Yes, we all like each other!” Olaf agreed.

“Yes, but Elsa _like likes_ Cassie. Do you understand?”

Olaf looked up at Anna, his eyes widening in awe. Then he shook his head.

Anna pursed her lips. “Okay, when a person _like likes_ a person they like to do certain things with them like hold hands and kiss and when they _really_ like that person, they will do other, more special things like-”

“Uh, Anna!” Kristoff interrupted her, his voice unnaturally high, “I think we should save that talk for another time! Some time far, _far_ in the future, don’t you?” He nodded, eyes wide. “Besides, it looks like things are starting to wrap up here and I don’t wanna miss it.” He returned his attention to the fight and Anna did the same, finding Elsa sprawled out on the floor yet again.

“Come on, Elsa, you can do it…” She found herself urging under her breath, her support for her sister always unwavering even in the face of insurmountable odds.

“No chance,” Kristoff snorted, “have you seen Cassandra fight? Elsa lost this the moment she stepped into the ring.”

“Elsa’s tougher than you think.” Anna responded with a fierceness in her tone.

“Yeah, but nobody is as tough as Cassandra.” Kristoff insisted, crossing his arms decisively.

“Five gold coins says Elsa wins.” Anna held her hand out to him with a glare.

Kristoff took it with a smirk. “You’re on.”

* * *

“Ready to tap out yet, Your _Majesty_?” Cassandra grinned as she pulled Elsa to her feet once more.

“Never.” Elsa grinned back and lifted her hands, ready to go again. Adrenaline was pumping through her body and the cocky smile on Cassandra’s face just made her want to keep going. Cassandra was glowing with the thrill of the battle, her body practically vibrating with energy as they fought. This was her Kingdom. In this arena, she was the Queen, and Elsa could understand why many of the younger soldiers had begun to worship her. Those same soldiers cheered and booed around them, and she was certain that most of the cheers were for Cassandra.

“Okay. Come at me.” Cassandra instructed.

Elsa flew at her, determined this time to get her down on the ground. She’d been picking up bits and pieces from the moment they’d started, learning something new each and every time Cassandra would block or bypass her attempts and put her down with ease. She felt like her time was coming. She just needed the tiniest opening and then she would strike.

Cassandra blocked her again, hands deflecting Elsa’s aside and grasping her forearms in her strong grip. She smirked, confident that she had the upper hand. With several quick movements she managed to turn Elsa around and slide one of her arms around Elsa’s waist, and the other loosely around her neck. Her back was snug against Cassandra’s front and she was trapped, about to go down again. Elsa grabbed each arm with her hands, but she knew Cassandra was stronger and she would never loosen her grip.

“Give up, Elsa, you can’t win.” Cassandra’s mouth was at Elsa’s ear and her whispers were a soft heat on Elsa’s skin. “I promise I won’t make you do laundry duty.”

Elsa turned her face so that they were nose to nose and met Cassandra’s eyes. Despite their current predicament there was a warmth in Cassandra’s expression that was reserved for Elsa and Elsa alone. Elsa couldn’t help herself. Without thinking about it, she closed her eyes and pressed her lips to Cassandra’s for a kiss, just wanting to feel that smiling mouth against hers.

A loud gasp rippled amongst the crowd and they became quiet. A second later Elsa felt Cassandra’s smile grow wider and then it disappeared as she kissed Elsa back with all the sweetness she possessed. Her arms loosened around Elsa just a fraction, but it was enough that Elsa could shift her weight ever so slightly to the side. She wrapped her fingers around the arm at her neck and finally broke the kiss with a grin. “I love you, Cassie.” She whispered, and then she unceremoniously twisted her body and pulled Cassandra clumsily over her shoulder.

Cassandra grunted in surprise as her feet left the floor. She tried to stop herself, but it was too late. She fell to the floor as if in slow motion, Elsa still holding her arm as she went down, feeling fairly shocked herself that it had worked. She let go when Cassandra was fully on the ground and looked down at her with wide eyes, barely believing what she’d done. From the look on Cassandra’s face as she lay there, she couldn’t believe it either.

There was a deathly silence as everybody waited for Cassandra’s reaction to her defeat. Cassandra seemed unwilling to get up, her eyes on Elsa and her expression unreadable. Then she started laughing and the sound was like music to Elsa’s ears. Cassandra pushed herself to her feet and stood facing Elsa, the spectators still quiet as they watched this unimaginable scene unfold.

“It goes without saying,” Cassandra’s voice was loud, her words for her students, but her amused gaze was fixed on Elsa, “that you won’t be able to _kiss_ your enemies into submission.” Elsa had to stifle the giggle that bubbled up in her throat at the thought of her royal guards smooching their way to victory. “So I’ll see you all tomorrow to learn how to win _without_ cheating!” The recruits groaned as they began to disperse, along with all the other people who’d stopped to watch the insane clash between the Queen and her Warrior.

“You never said ‘no kissing’, Cassie.” Elsa raised her eyebrow and smirked.

“I thought that was implied!” Cassandra chuckled, and then she took Elsa’s hand into hers and squeezed it. “You did good. You found my one and only weakness and you used it.”

“Your weakness is kisses?” Elsa grinned.

“My weakness is _you.”_ Cassandra corrected her, bringing the hand in hers up to her lips and kissing the back of it softly. “I love you.”

“I love you t-”

“Woohoo! Elsa! I knew you could do it!” Anna burst into the space between them, separating their hands and throwing her arms around her sister.

“I can’t believe you let her win.” Kristoff whispered loudly to Cassandra.

“She didn’t _let_ her win, Kristoff!” Anna admonished, “Elsa won fair and square! Now pay up.” She held out her hand, arm still around Elsa’s neck. Kristoff grumbled as he dropped five coins into her palm.

“Anna, you don’t need money.” Elsa pointed out with confusion.

“I give them to Olaf.” Anna shrugged.

“I collect them!” Olaf waddled up to the group, holding out one of his twigs to Anna, who gave him the coins.

“Okay! I’ve been training for hours and I’m ready for some lunch.” Cassandra declared, taking Elsa’s hand again.

They all moved as one towards the Castle and Elsa smiled with contentment as she glanced down at the hand holding hers. With Cassandra by her side she felt complete, and happier than she ever thought she could be, or had any right to be. Cassandra squeezed her hand and she lifted her eyes to see her smiling warmly at her as they walked. Elsa smiled back, silently thanking the Gods once again for bringing Cassandra back into her life.


End file.
